I want to turn my own rubberized cork butt caps to match my cork split grip butt grip. I have been turning my own cork grips on a lathe, but have had to buy the rubberized butt cap. This limits me to have to size my fighting butt to match whatever size is being sold. I purchased some solid 1 1/4 inch solid rubberized cork wafers in hope to glue these up and somehow turn to match the butt grip. i figure I can drill out the tenon depth with a brad point or Forstner bit in the drill press. I haven't figured out though how to turn these, so I am turning here for the expertise of the group. How do you turn these or do you.? I could not find any specific videos on the interweb for this process or in the library here.Thanks in advance for your help.

Not sure of what your lathe setup is (headstock chuck, etc), or what the wafers look like. But you could try bonding enough wafers together to form a block that is about a quarter inch longer than the desired fighting butt length. Then securely bond the block to a short section of wooden dowel. Mount the dowel in your headstock chuck and shape the fighting butt. If you shape it with the bottom away from the dowel section, simply use your parting tool to separate from the dowel at the desired length. If you shape it with the bottom toward the dowel, you can mount your brad point bit into your tailstock and drill a centered hole. This will require that you use sandpaper to begin rounding the butt end before parting off from the dowel.

If you can’t visualize what I’m saying let me know.

"The greatest barrier to discovery is not ignorance, it's the illusion of knowledge" - Daniel J. Boorstin

David
I do it all the time.
I epoxy all cork rings and rubberized cork rings - including the butt cap - to the blank before shaping the grip.
The process for the butt cap:

NOTE: The blank should extend into the 0.5" rubberized ring by 0.25" - so half way.

Buy an assortment of thin-walled brass tubing at a good hardware store or hobby shop. [www.micromark.com]

Choose a tube that will accommodate the blank's butt to fit through, with some "wiggle" room.
File one end of the tube at an angle to create a very sharp edge. I like to make it serrated by working my way around the tube in stages.

Lay the 1.25" rubberized cork ring on it's face - center the tube as exact as possible - rotate the tube with pressure until you cut through the ring..SAVE THE PLUG!!!

Insert a bushed mandrel (any straight metal rod will do). Use this rod to turn the grip. Bush the rod such that you have enough room between the chuck and the rubberized cork to fit a sanding block.
You will be able to shape 90% of the butt cap.

When finished shaping the grip - epoxy the saved PLUG into the end of the butt cap as far as it will go - which, if you did it correctly, will be 0.25" - making sure not to get any epoxy on the face of the butt cap.
When cured - trim off the excess plug with a sharp knife. Hand sand until seam disappears.

Herb



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/2020 10:11AM by Herb Ladenheim.

David,
I have tried a lot of different methods.

However, the following is the way that works the best and is the quickest to complete.

1. I purchased a set of plug making drills:

[www.harborfreight.com]

2. Then, using one of the 1.25 inch cork rings, I use the appropriate plug cutter to create a plug that will fit the hole in the rubberized cork butt cap that you create.

3. I drill and or ream a hole in one of the 1.25 inch cork rings to match the size of the holes that are in the rest of your cork rings that create your grip - before doing any grip shaping.

4. Then, just glue on the butt cap that you have created and after putting the grip on a mandrel, shape the grip, including the butt cap.

5. Then, just do a test fit of the plug that you have created for the end of the butt cap. If all is well, coat the plug with epoxy and glue it in. Push in the plug until it is not quite flush. Often, I will use one of the plug cutters so that the plug is a bit larger than the hole in the butt cap. Then, I will use a tapered reamer to create a slightly tapered hole in the butt cap so that when the plug is pushed in, it is very very tight.

6. Touch up the butt cap a bit with a sanding block with various grades of paper on it to give the butt cap a perfectly smooth finish. With a tight fitting plug in the butt cap -- normally the plug is invisible and it appears that it was a one piece of cork that created the butt cap.

------------------------------
I have used various systems to create the cap separately and then, glue it on. But, I have found that rather than gluing on a separate butt cap on a finished grip --- it is many times easier and one achieves a perfect grip much much more quickly with minimum trouble and work.

p.s.
I use a tapered reamer identical to this one to create the slight taper in the hole in the butt cap to achieve an absolutely perfect fitting plug in the hole iin the butt cap.

[www.amazon.com]

p.p.s.

One can find a huge number of uses for a hand held tapered reamer as listed above. When I am in a production environment, I remove the T handle and chuck the reamer in my 1/2 inch cordless drill if I am reaming a lot of things. For example, if one is enlarging 1/4 inch hole in cork, the tapered reamer does the job incredibly quick.

When using the rubberized, I have never had the need to use a plug. I just glue the rubberized to the bored material, whether it be cork, acrylic or wood. then throw on a mandrel and turn to desired shape

Ron Weber

Thanks for the ideas guys. I like the idea of cutting out a plug from the rubberized wafers and then gluing this to the cork rings and turning all at the same time. I am visualizing that I would need to cut the plug larger than the end of the blank so that when I ream to fit, the plug will still fit back in. Both Roger and Herb mentioned using epoxy to affix the plug. Would epoxy be better than Titebond II.?

David
I use a brass tube cutter that is alightly larger than the blank's butt - because the blank will have to fit halfway into the butt cap.
If you don't do that you will shear off the butt cap when you have a big fish on and you put pressure on the butt.
Been there - done that.
Plain cork is not strong.
Herb
You can use any water proof glue.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/2020 06:21PM by Herb Ladenheim.

Herb Ladenheim Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> David
> I use a brass tube cutter that is alightly larger
> than the blank's butt - because the blank will
> have to fit halfway into the butt cap.
> If you don't do that you will shear off the butt
> cap when you have a big fish on and you put
> pressure on the butt.
> Been there - done that.
> Plain cork is not strong.
> Herb
> You can use any water glue
Good to know, I have hundereds out there that are going to shear off
[www.rodbuilding.org]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/2020 06:16PM by Ron Weber.

Ron
Don't you have the blank- or some other support - running all the way to the last ring?
If not - how many cork rings are hanging out there unsupported?
Herb

Ron,
Can you clear up one thing for me.

If you don't cut a plug to plug the hole in the butt cap that was glued onto the ends of the cork before shaping the cork, what do you do with the hole in the end of the grip?

Just to be clear.

The plug is for one thing and one thing only.

The cut out plug is used to glue into the hole in the last ring which is the rubberized cork ring that is being used for the butt cap.

In reference to Herb's comment, with respect to hole size.

The hole in the butt cap is the same size as the outside of the blank. Then, when the grip is glued onto the rod blank, the rod blank goes about 1/2 way through the butt cap.

The plug then goes into the hole in the end of the grip which is the rubberized cork, and it butts onto the end of the rod blank. The plug is then cut flush with the butt cap and sanded smooth to become invisible in the butt cap.

Take care

Roger,
Of course I can't speak for Ron - but I used to do it that way. e.g. no hole in the butt cap.
I developed a way to connect the male ferrule of a 4 piece fly rod directly to the chuck - SAFELY.
I placed a steady on the reel seat and one in front of the grip.
Then I could turn the whole thing at once.
reason I don't do it that way any longer is because it is very difficult to get the chuck and blank to be perfectly aligned - so there was runout.
Herb



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/01/2021 12:09PM by Herb Ladenheim.

No thru hole in any of mine. The thru hole is in the butt grip to the closest oversize to the butt OD, then the rubberized cork securely glued to it, installed on the lathe and turned to shape. The mandrel is generally long enough to reach thru to the rubberized, the one can actually use a flange style nut to make the transition from the rubberized to the live center to keep it secure when turning. There is also an individual that make some blind hole mandrels to secure them in several sizes, but I have not partaken of any of them, as they are designated sizes and if I need something in between standard sizing I just make me a mandrel to the correct or corresponding size

Ron Weber

Ron Weber Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> No thru hole in any of mine. The thru hole is in
> the butt grip to the closest oversize to the butt
> OD, then the rubberized cork securely glued to it,
> installed on the lathe and turned to shape. The
> mandrel is generally long enough to reach thru to
> the rubberized, the one can actually use a flange
> style nut to make the transition from the
> rubberized to the live center to keep it secure
> when turning. There is also an individual that
> make some blind hole mandrels to secure them in
> several sizes, but I have not partaken of any of
> them, as they are designated sizes and if I need
> something in between standard sizing I just make
> me a mandrel to the correct or corresponding size

Ron,
I wish I could follow the process. can you reword to make clearer?
Herb

Ron,
I used to use the method that you describe, but I just found that it just wasn't time effective to do it that way.

But, just use the method and or technique that works best for you and your particular style of rod building.

Be safe

Roger,
Can you explain how a mandrel is employed if there is no thru hole in the butt cap.
Herb